Cactus update

Palm Springs, 5-Apr-03. The split rock cactus is recovering nicely after a vicious attack by a northern mockingbird last month. New lobes are pushing out from below the damaged ones.

Damaged lobes have separated or been pushed apart by new lobes emerging between them

One month ago; note that the two little "ears" barely visible then are still there in the current picture

Looking back at pictures taken when the cactus was first planted reveals yet another significant change. The two larger lobes, originally, are now smaller than the ones that were originally growing between them. In fact, one of the original larger lobes has atrophied and has nearly shriveled up. These changes went unnoticed by me, presumably because the changes were so gradual that they failed to trigger the motion-detection centers in my own cerebral lobes.

Split rock cactus today

View from same perspective at the time of planting on 10 December 2002